Concrete is often used as a building material in the construction of commercial buildings and other structures. Typically, concrete will be formed into blocks or panels which may thereafter be assembled at a job site into a desired structure. The blocks and panels may be formed at a manufacturing plant for transportation to the job site, or they may be formed directly at the job site. For example, concrete panels which are used to construct concrete walls are generally formed by pouring concrete into forms which have been arranged on a horizontal surface, such as the floor of a building under construction. Once a concrete panel has sufficiently cured, the panel may be raised into position to form a wall section.
To facilitate raising the panels, anchors are typically embedded in the concrete before the concrete cures. The anchors are recessed into a surface of the panel so that the anchor does not protrude above the top surface of the panel after it has been raised into position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,843 to Courtois et al., assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a plug which may be used to form the recess around an anchor during creation of the concrete panel. The anchor may be in the shape of a hook, a rod having an enlarged end, or an eye whereby the anchor may be coupled to a crane for raising and maneuvering the panel into position once the concrete has cured.
After the panel has been placed in position, it is generally desired to patch the recess and cover the anchor for aesthetics or to avoid the accumulation of water or other liquids in the recess, which may rust the anchor and cause surface staining of the concrete surrounding the anchor.
In the past, these recesses have been patched by filling the recess with concrete, or other material, and scraping off the excess patch material to create a level surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,486 to Holt et al. discloses a cover which may be used to patch a recess in a concrete panel. However, the cover of Holt et al. contains multiple pieces which may become separated at the job site, resulting in an unusable cover. The cover of Holt et al. has a plug which must be installed through an opening in the anchor prior to attaching the cover over the recess. Because it may be difficult to maneuver the plug into the hole in the anchor and then attach the cover to the plug, this type of cover and the prior method of patching a recess with concrete or other material are time consuming for workers at the job site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,867 to Thompson discloses a cover having a cone shaped lower portion with a hole that engages the enlarged head of an anchor. While this type of cover may be snapped into place without excessive manipulation, it is designed to engage the anchor at a specific depth below the surface of the concrete panel. Therefore, the depth of the anchor beneath the surface needs to be carefully controlled or a range of various cover sizes must be provided.
There is thus a need for a cover which can be used to patch a recess formed in a concrete section around an anchor and which overcomes drawbacks of the prior art, such as those described above.